Ward, Lock & Co.

Ward Lock & Co was a publishing house in the United Kingdom that started as a partnership and developed until it was eventually absorbed into the publishing combine of Orion Publishing Group.

History

Ebenezer Ward and George Lock starting a publishing concern in 1854 which became known as "Ward and Lock". Based originally in Fleet Street, London it outgrew its offices and in 1878 moved completely to Salisbury Square, London.

London publisher Samuel Orchart Beeton was obliged (as a result of the financial Panic of 1866) to sell his titles and name to Ward Lock; this gave them the rights to his late wife's Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.

The Red Guides,^[1] for which it became renowned, were initially acquired in the early 1880s, as the company bought Shaw’s respected list of tourist guides.

In the 1887 Beeton's Christmas Annual (published in November) Arthur Conan Doyle's first detective novel, A Study in Scarlet, was published, introducing the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend and chronicler Dr. Watson.

James Bowden came in to the now three way partnership. In 1882 offices were opened in New York, and in 1884 in Melbourne. In the mid-1890s, the company opened an office in Toronto, Canada; however, this was closed in 1919.

In 1964, the business split in two, creating Ward Lock Educational Ltd, which was bought by Cassell Publishing in 1989. By the early 90’s, Cassell was acquired by the current owner, Orion Publishing Group.

Trading names

Ward and Lock – 1852 to 1891
Ward, Lock & Tyler (from 1865 to 1873^[2])
Ward, Lock and Bowden Company – 1891 to 1893
Ward Lock and Bowden Ltd. – 1893 to 1897
Ward Lock & Co. Ltd. – 1897 to present

Authors

Daniel Defoe
R. M. Ballantyne
Isabella Beeton
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Leslie Charteris
Thomas Hughes
Nigel Tranter: early novels (1937–1956) and westerns (published under the pseudonym 'Nye Tredgold', 1950–1958)
Dornford Yates

Titles

Some famous books and series were published by Ward Lock:

6D Copyright Novels ^[3]
"Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
A Study in Scarlet
The Fair Britain Series
Gardening Books^{[clarification needed]}
Martin Rattler by R. M. Ballantyne (reprint)
Meet the Tiger (the first book featuring The Saint)
The Model-Making Series
Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Pilgrim's Progress (reprint)
Seven Little Australians
Bettany, George Thomas (1888). The World's Inhabitants, Or Mankind, Animals, and Plants: Being a Popular Account of the Races and Nations of Mankind, Past and Present and the Animals and Plants Inhabiting the Great Continents and Principal Islands. Ward, Lock. Archived from the original on Sep 5, 2006. Retrieved 24 April 2014. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes
Wonder Books for Children
Harold, the Last of the Saxons by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (3rd edition)
The Rainbow Series

The Windsor Magazine was published monthly from January 1895 until September 1939 (537 issues).

References

^ "about the red guides". Ward Lock & Co's Illustrated Guide Books for collectors and enthusiasts. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
^ Dictionary of Nineteenth-century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland Par Laurel Brake,Marysa Demoor, page 663, https://books.google.fr/books?id=qVrUTUelE6YC&pg=PA663&lpg=PA663&dq=ward+lock+tyler+1865&source=bl&ots=PYsjK8yYiH&sig=Q26XHpHt3HavUuoxB9Q5OqDdBLE&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=to9gVeywMIHzUsWigLgC&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=ward%20lock%20tyler%201865&f=false
^ "Image : Ward, Lock & Co.'s Series of Copyright Novels : 6d". Runela.net. Retrieved 2013-10-07.